Volleyball is a peaceful, idyllic game where everything is pleasant, sweet, and harmonious and the players are always courteous, respectful, civil, and considerate to their teammates, the opposition, and the fans, right? Why do we need officials anyway? Can’t we all just get along?
Unfortunately, even though Volleyball is a great game with great people, there are times when Volleyball people disagree; sometimes simply, sometimes respectfully, sometimes vehemently and sometimes rudely and impolitely. The desire to win the match, the desire to be the best, the desire to get ahead of the competition, the desire to be right, personal likes and dislikes, and even environmental conditions all influence what we see – or think we see – on the Volleyball court. The daunting task of ensuring the safety of both the participants and the spectators, making the correct call time after time, and keeping the match moving in a positive manner falls to the skills, knowledge, expertise, acumen and just plain old common sense of the officiating team. These men and women often work and toil in obscurity behind the scenes of the match; but without these dedicated officials, a great volleyball match would be next to impossible, if not actually impossible, to achieve.
Two organizations maintain the primary responsibility for accrediting Volleyball officials above the high school level, USA Volleyball (USAV) and the Professional Association of Volleyball Officials (PAVO). Although there is some degree of cooperation between these two organizations, each of them has their own criteria and mechanisms for approving and certifying officials at the various levels. For additional information on these two organizations and the incredible amount of training involved to reach the highest levels of Volleyball officiating, please visit their websites.
1) PAVO at www.pavo.org and click on the certifications tab.
2) USAV at www.volleyballreftraining.com and click on the certifications tab.
A Volleyball officiating team consists of five distinct elements, but these elements are often modified according to the level of competition. So, the number of officials calling the NCAA National Championship will probably differ from the number of officials working a match at the local JCC or YMCA.
1) The 1st referee (also known as the “Up” referee and the R1).
2) The 2nd referee (also known as the “Down” referee and the R2).
3) The scorer (also known as the scorekeeper).
4) The assistant scorer.
5) The line judges (either two or four).
According to the USAV Domestic Competition Rules (DCR) for Volleyball, each member of the officiating team has a very distinct role in the successful progress of the match. A very brief synopsis of these responsibilities follows.
Responsibilities of the 1st referee include, but are not limited to: 1) directs the match from start to finish; 2) exercises authority over all members of the refereeing team; 3) has authority over all members of the participating teams: 4) makes all “ball-handling calls” which, during the match, are final decisions; and 5) is authorized to overrule the decisions of other members of the refereeing corps.
The 2nd referee: 1) is the assistant of the 1st referee, but also has own range of duties and responsibilities; 2) controls the work of the scorers, supervises the team members on the team bench and reports their misconduct to the first referee; 3) controls the players in the warm-up areas; 4) controls the number of time-outs and substitutions used by each team; and 5) calls net violations on offending teams.
The scorer: 1) keeps the score sheet according to the rules; 2) cooperates with the 2nd referee; 3) registers the data of the match and teams, including the names and numbers of the Liberos, according to the procedures in place. The assistant scorer assists the scorer, usually by tracking the libero or operating the visual score board.
The line judges: 1) call the ball “in” and “out” whenever the ball lands near their line; 2) call the touches of “out” balls by the team receiving the ball; 3) call any player (except the server) stepping outside of his/her court at the moment of the service contact; and 4) call the foot faults of the server.
Essentially, being a Volleyball official can be a thankless and unappreciated job, whether it’s done right or wrong. So, next time you are watching a match (hopefully soon), cut the officials some slack. They’ve probably earned it, and more importantly, they’re usually right.
Acknowledgements to Joe Flanigan, Virgil Johnson, Walt Rohn, and Rick Swenson for their comments and their selfless refereeing. And a special thanks to Marty Prochko for his comments and advice. More on Marty Prochko, a PAVO and USAV National level referee, in another post. Support the game!
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
